Everything Remains In Front Of The Cleveland Browns
If you would have told a Cleveland Browns fan before the season that the Browns would start the season 4-2 through their first six games, they would be ecstatic. Well, Cleveland is at that point and there seems to be some negative air floating around. Majority of that is coming from sting of a blowout loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, that’s okay. But, to think that Cleveland is not a good football team would be foolish to think.
The Browns up to this point have basically beaten who they should have and lost the games you would figure. Cleveland has a punchers chance with teams like the Baltimore Ravens as well as the Steelers, but not when they fall behind big like that have to both teams. Also, it’s fair to say the Browns were pretty beat up heading into the Steelers game and it was going to take a mistake free game - that did not happen.
The schedule is their friend.
With that being said, there is reason to have optimism going forward. Cleveland goes for the season sweep of the Bengals in just a few days, something they did not do last year even though Cincinnati was the worst team in the league. Bengals will go into that one with a 1-4-1 record, coming off a loss to the Indianapolis Colts where they blew a big lead. Baker Mayfield is going to practice more this week and will come in on Sunday better prepared for a Bengals defense that is light years behind what Mayfield had to face when traveling to the steel city. The Browns very well should end the week as a 5-2 football team. One thing they can’t let happen is for the Bengals to hang around as they did earlier in the season.
After the Bengals will be a tough home game for the Browns against the Las Vegas Raiders, a team with a solid offense a very good tight end that is likely to give the Browns problems. One thing Cleveland has working for them is the fact that the Raiders will have to make the trip across the country, which is not always friendly in the National Football League. This is the kind of game where the defensive line can change things, giving Cleveland a better chance to win. Wyatt Teller is week-to-week with his injury, it is possible he could return in week eight against the Raiders. If not, the bye week is in week nine and he will be good to go after that.
The bye week will help Cleveland tremendously, a team that really needs to get healthy for the stretch run. The offensive line has been a strong suit when stable, not so much when there is a missing link. The bye will be beneficial for the return of Nick Chubb as well, gives him another full week that the Browns won’t have to suit up without him. Wideout Jarvis Landry has been beat up a bit and probably can’t wait for a week off to rest the body, another player that is not at 100% since the Colts game.
Coming back in week 10 Cleveland will host the Houston Texans. The Texans have been better without Bill O’Brien and have had a pretty tough schedule to this point. From now then the Browns should be healthier. The Texans will be coming to Cleveland to play in cold weather - still the first and toughest game of a three week stretch. After that the Browns will be home against the Philadelphia Eagles and then travel to play the Jaguars in Jacksonville. These three teams have won a combined three games on the season, it will be good opportunity to see a couple of wins for the orange and brown.
In fact, the three game stretch just mentioned may be the key part of the season. If Cleveland can win the games that they should, the chances of them reaching their goals become much larger.
Team has to learn from early mistakes and finish strong.
In the last five games the Browns will get their shot at redemption against the Steelers and Ravens. At this point the team should surely has their rushing attack back and humming. This is the area of the year where the team decides of Greedy Williams will suit up or not, maybe adding an extra boost in the defensive back field. If anything, it adds more competition, maybe that is what they need.
Cleveland benefits from having the great opportunity to play the New York Jets as well as the New York Giants, two games that can be sure wins, but it is the NFL so no week is a cake walk. Cleveland is by no means one of the top dogs in the AFC with the Ravens, Chiefs, Steelers or Titans. They do have a team that can compete with those teams, that is the part that just has not happened yet.
Cleveland has to find what works for their quarterback, Mayfield. Maybe that’s just being healthy and having his supporting cast healthy. He has shown some good things when both of those things come together. But, he needs to do it consistently. Has to be able to get the ball to Odell Beckham Jr. for instance who is open so often, letting it come natural. This is all one deciding factor of if Cleveland can take advantage of their schedule going forward and end the season as one of the better Browns teams of recent memory.
The point is, the Browns are fine at 4-2, everything is still right in front of them for that end goal. The team is fighting through some injuries at the moment and missing one of the league’s best running backs in Nick Chubb. The rushing attack has been much more stagnant since his injury, Kareem Hunt has had to become the feature back. He is capable, but it has already been seen what he can do sharing touches with Chubb. In the end, the sky is not falling in Cleveland and they will be just fine.
